A brilliant page turner that is a fun easy read. Really enjoyed this book. Was easily read with short and sweet chapters.

Great characters who made me laugh and want to read on.

Read quickly and must admit kept me up to finish. Love the fast paced story.

Highly recommended 5 stars from me

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Chris Merritt's first standalone thriller THE NEW HOME.

I've not read Chris Merritt before and I have to say that THE NEW HOME was a great introduction if this first standalone thriller by the author is anything to go by. It is well-written and quite addictive once it gets going as the twisted story slowly unfolds and you don't know who to trust.

Freelance documentary filmmaker Freya and her cardiologist fiance Jack has just bought and moved into a fixer-upper in Weybridge on the outskirts of London. Almost immediately Freya befriends neighbour Emily Crawford and her daughter Thea even if her husband is a standoffish barrel of laughs. Over the course of the ensuing months, Freya and Emily enjoy an easy friendship in each other's company...until one day in July the police come knocking on their door.

Emily and her daughter are missing.

Almost at once Freya begins to suspect Emily's husband Michael who doesn't appear to be too distraught over his wife and child's disappearance. He welcomes no help, he is abrupt to the point of rudeness and Freya is sure he hiding something. Not only that, whenever Freya tries voicing her concerns with the detective in charge of the case, Paul Henderson, her pleas appear to fall on deaf ears. After the initial questioning by police at the outset, no one seems to be looking for Emily and Thea at all!

No one, except Freya.

And so she sets up a page on social media to garner the assistance of the public to help find her missing friend and daughter. Because right now, Freya appears to be the only hope Emily has. No one else appears to be at all concerned. When she received a post from a woman claiming to be Michael's ex, Alice, outlining his abuse of her and that Emily is better off without him, Freya feels she is validated in her suspicions of her secretive neighbour. Which then lead her to searching his loft which adjoins theirs as well as his shed at the bottom of the garden. Then it isn't long before she begins receiving threatening messages to leave well enough alone or she'll be next. Is she getting too close to the truth and now he wants to ensure her silence?

Just when she thinks she knows what has happened to Emily, Freya's world is turned upside down as her vivid imagination, as well as Jack, appear to betray her and she no longer knows who she can trust. But despite this, Freya knows she cannot rest until she finds the truth about what happened to Emily and Thea.

THE NEW HOME is certainly a twisty addictive thrill ride of a domestic thriller that will have you questioning the reliability of everyone in the story. Freya, especially, was an unreliable narrator that it was hard to trust her judgement let alone anyone else's. As the reader, you will go through a multitude of scenarios, even the most outlandish ones, before reaching the final conclusion which will leave you thinking..."what the hell just happened?"

Filled with spine-tingling suspense, THE NEW HOME gives us characters who are not all that they seem. There are twists and red herrings to keep readers on their toes with this nail-biting read. The plot is tense and tightly written filled with cryptic clues that will befuddle the cleverest and most observant reader. I truly didn't know what was going on but I sure had fun trying to figure it out! And figure it out I did just before it was revealed.

The story unfolds through Freya's first person narrative which is clever in such a way that we are getting her perspective which is not always reliable...and so we begin to question just how much truth is there to her narrative? We are also given a glimpse into an unnamed person's delusional narrative as we try to weave the two together to see the bigger picture.

THE NEW HOME is certainly an addictive and enjoyable read and perfect for fans of domestic thrillers with a psychological twist.

I would like to thank #ChrisMerritt, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNewHome in exchange for an honest review.

The quirky character of Freya hooked me from the outset and the immediate creepiness is told from the start when Freya and her boyfriend Jack move into their dream home, albeit, they are more than aware that it will involve putting a lot of hard work into in order to make it as beautiful a home as their neighbours Emily and Michael.

Freya and Emily begin a friendship days after they move in however something does not sit right and Freya can’t stop thinking about that first time she met them and the way that Jack had reacted to meeting Emily. There was something definitely not right.

But then when Emily and her daughter Thea go missing and the lead detective Henderson does not appear to be treating their disappearance terribly seriously, Freya steps in and decides to open a Facebook group to try and find her friend.

I’ve got to say, this is one of the tensest books I’ve read in a long while. The suspense carries along wonderfully with that kind of knotted anticipation of the fear of what Freya will discover especially when she believes that Emily and Thea have been murdered by her husband.

The threat to Freya becomes more real when she receives threatening messages through the Facebook group from someone who clearly knows that she is the person behind it. The fact that Freya is seeing a counsellor and depending more and more on him. Freya soon realises that something has shifted and instead of discussing her miscarriage, the reason that took her to getting a counsellor in the first place, she focuses on the disappearance of Emily and Thea, blurring the lines between reality and her mental health which is portrayed wonderfully.

The suspense throughout is excellent and it’s beautifully written with some artfully created phrases giving a really sensitive but thoroughly enjoyable characteristics of Freya. One thing is for sure, I was passionately behind every step Freya took to find her friend and daughter, hopefully alive and well.

All in all, a good read that I would thoroughly recommend.

Go to IG: @entre.mi.libro.y.yo to read the full review

So... I don´t think this book was for me.

I mean, it IS a page-turner and once I was reading I couldn´t put it down for an hour or so, but I saw all the plot twists coming.
Also, I think everything in this book would´ve been solved a lot easier if there was communication between characters, so it was frustrating to me that it took all those turns.

I really want to thank the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn’t stay interested in this book, I gave up halfway through after what I assume to be a big reveal. I skimmed to the end and discovered what I suspected. I’m sure some will love this book but it just wasn’t for me.

2.5, rounded up.- thanks for the advanced copy NetGalley!

Freya & her fiancée Jack move to a new home in quaint suburb. They’re next door neighbors are a young family & Freya quickly bonds with Emily, the mother. A few months later, Emily & her young daughter vanish and it seems to Freya that no one is taking it seriously. The cops aren’t investigating Emily’s husband who seems like he’s hiding something - so Freya decides to search for her missing friend herself.

I really wanted to like this but found myself rolling my eyes at Freya constantly. Here is another male author trying to write a complicated woman - but boiled down, she wants to be a mother and all of her feelings are wrapped up in her fertility. This trope is very tiring to me. Then the author wove in mental illness…but barely.

We the reader were also constantly told about Freya and Emily’s friendship but were never shown it. So I didn’t really care or feel the connection. All in all, a forgettable thriller to me.

Trigger warning: Miscarriage, Missing woman & child, mental illness, dementia, violence

The description of this book is what sucked me in. I'm a sucker for thrillers! But I was having a hard time getting through this book. It was mostly the unreliable narrator that made this a hard book to tackle. Her constant back and forth was driving me up a wall. I guessed a plot point early on, but the characters weren't on the up and up.. And then I guessed who the stalker was rather quickly, because it did seem rather obvious for those who read these type of thriller novels, so when it was revealed in an "epic plot twist" it wasn't a shock to me, which I think ruined the book experience for me personally. I am not surprised at how the book ended either, you could see the happily ever after a mile away.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this Advanced Reader Copy! I was not paid for reading this book, and I left an honest review.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

have to say i wasnt a big fan of this book... when the main character is just a normal everyday person and thinks they know best and starts looking into the disappearance of her neighbour because she thinks she can do a better job than the police...so this one wasnt a win win for me...

Whoa! I think I may have found a new male author to follow. I usually don't care for many male authors because let's face it, most of them don't know how to write a female character. I read The New Home by Chris Merritt thinking this author was probably female. Nope! This guy knows how to get into the mind of a female character and convincingly put her on paper!

I really enjoyed this book. Freya is the main character who has a past experience with mental illness. Eight years later she and her boyfriend move to a new town and strange happenings begin. Is her psychiatric problems returning or is it more sinister than that? This book kept me guessing. I couldn't wait to finish it and see where it was all headed.

Chris Merritt is new to me and a stand alone Psychological Suspense novel is new to him. I have to say he did a great job pulling it off! There are not a lot of twists, just a gradual climb to the climax. Like I said before, he writes a darn good woman! If you love Suspense and Mysteries, I think you need to give this book a try. I know I'm going to be recommending this book to all my friends.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #Netgalley/Bookouture. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Freya and Jack move after he lands his dream job as a cardiac surgeon.
Freya leaves behind her friends, struggling to fill her day. While trying to occupy her time by pitching documentary film, Freya becomes friends with her neighbors, Emily and her daughter, Thea. Though Emily's husband, Michael, is distant and not a warm person.
Life seems good - until a knock on the door. Freya is notified by a local detective of Emily and Thea's disappearance.
While desperately trying to search for any hints, Freya feels as though she is dreaming. Michael appears to be quite guilty in Freya's opinion, yet the police don't seem to be pursuing any leads.
Forced into the therapy to cope with her miscarriage, Freya attempts to put together her life, her relationship with Jack while quickly becoming obsessed with Emily's life.
Fast paced, quick read with a great twist.

I enjoyed reading this book and although some other reviews feel that it may be a bit far-fetched at times, I think that what may be so to many people isn't necessarily so to those who are suffering from delusional thoughts let alone the aftermath of a miscarriage. The lead character Freya can be a bit annoying at times with her overactive imagination but most of us at some point have done the same even when there is a rational explanation! The story is quite a quick read especially if you're looking to find out what going to happen next to Freya!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

3.5 stars

The New Home by Chris Merritt is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Freya and Jack move into a fixer-upper, with good intentions.  Jack is starting a new job at the hospital, and although all of Freya's friends are now 2 hours away, she writes documentaries, and can work from home.

Freya meets Emily and her daughter next door, and forms a fast friendship.  Emily's husband Michael, on the other hand, is a bit of a beast.  When Emily and her daughter disappear one day, Freya is sure that Michael has killed them.  Against everyone's wishes, Freya starts investigating.  She is the only one that seems to care, so she is determined to find them.


My Opinions:   
Well, the good thing, is that it was a fast and easy read.  The writing was good.  There were a lot of secrets being kept, and a couple of good twists, although most of it was rather predictable.  It was hard to know who to trust, and the only character I really liked was Cathy (and at one point I feared where that thought may end up).

I had a bit of a problem with the friendship between Freya and Emily, because the author didn't really expand on it enough to see it blossom into something that Freya would want to dig her teeth into when Emily went missing.

Unfortunately, I did not like the main character at all.  Freya's nosiness grated on me. It became evident early on that we had an unreliable narrator.

Topics in this book cover depression, dementia, anxiety, and mental illness, and how they can distort thoughts to a point that the person may injure themselves or others.  The book also covers both crimes against women, drug addiction, and miscarriages.  Pretty dark topics, but done very well.

I have read other books by this author, in particular the Lockhart and Green series, and have enjoyed them.  This is his first stand-alone psychological thriller.  It was good, and I might sound like I was nit-picking above, but there was just something missing.

Anyway, I will always grab a book by this author, because his books make you think.

The New House has Freya and Jack moving into their new house. Freya pictures things like a movie and can see what their fixer-upper house can be. Jack is happy being over to his new job and living with his fiancé. Next-door neighbor Emily is quick to make introductions to the new neighbors, along with her young daughter, Thea. Her husband Michael comes off as rude/rough in their first introductions. Their other neighbor, Cathy, is an older women who comes off as losing her marbles.

When Emily and her daughter goes missing within months of Freya moving in, no one seems very concerned. Emily's husband, Michael, can't be bothered to say more than a couple of words to Freya and the police have barely questioned him. Freya's husband, Jack, thinks Freya needs to let the police do their job and stay out of it. The only one who may have a clue is Cathy, but she's not a reliable source, as her mind seems to be fading.

This book was a slow read for me, although a lot was happening in the book and it moved at a swift pace, I was in the middle if getting back to work (school is starting back up and I'm not ready for summer to end), which made it feel choppy to me. I had a hard time relating to the characters in this book. What kept me intrigued was that the all parties involved seemed to be keeping secrets from each other. They slowly come out, one-by-one, or turn out to be nothing as Freya tries to find her neighbor.

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a roll of good thrillers lately and am happy to report that this book goes into the list of “must-reads.”
The author did a fantastic job of laying out the plot, allowing the reader to move methodically through the plot. It never felt rushed or overcomplicated.
Additionally, there was no time wasted in getting to the heart of the story. Important characters were introduced, the tone was set, and away went the action! I liked that it got to the heart of the matter quickly and didn’t waste time with long, boring build up.
I thought the author was very smart in how the character of Freya was portrayed to the reader. Since it was primarily from her point of view, the reader got used to her perspective quickly and was easily able to see what Freya saw.
Even as she began to have doubts about her new neighbors, it all still seemed “normal” and realistic.
And then, roughly halfway through, there is an incident that occurs which totally throws Freya’s character into question and suddenly makes her an unreliable narrator. It also caused me to wonder about the first half of the book, and how much of what she saw was actually “real.”
There were chapters interspersed that were the inner thoughts of an unknown character. These were effective and added to the “creep factor” because both the identity of the character “speaking” and who they were referring to were unknown to the reader.
There were a couple of plot points that I thought were weaker than the others. Cathy’s part could have been a little bit more defined. I understand why she was used the way she was, but a few of her statements seemed to be essentially ignored in the overall wrap-up of the book.
In retrospect, something that appeared to be useless actually served to establish Freya’s frame of mind and her reference points for all of her actions and beliefs. That turned out to be a great insight into her narrative status and allowed the reader to question her as much as she questioned everything else.
I did guess one “twist,” but I didn’t entirely guess the reasons why, so I was totally okay with that plot point being obvious to me. And I really liked the scene with Henderson at the end. I thought it cemented that his character was more astute than he let on.
All told, this book had me questioning the reliability of just about every character and their motivations at one point or another. I liked being off-balance and thought it was a great read.

This is just a whole big bag of NOPE.

If you took every bad suspense cliche, added in every tired thriller trope, mixed in a dash of men who can’t write women characters, and stirred it with a giant cringe spoon, you’d get this novel aka a hot steaming pile of garbage.

Here’s a PSA for authors, specifically male:

Stop making “crazy women” a trope. Especially when it relates to fertility, childbirth, child loss, or reproduction and fertility in general. It’s gross, antiquated, and completely unrealistic. Misogyny is not a look.

TW: Miscarriage, handled very poorly

2/5 ✨

Upon moving to a new town, Freya Northcott slowly adjusts to her surroundings until her neighbors suddenly disappear. Due to certain personal events, Freya delves into the missing persons case and soon realizes nothing is it seems, but she cannot stop until she gets the truth.

“Because, right here and right now, I’m the best friend she’s got. And I won’t stop looking until I find the truth, wherever it takes me.”

With multiple layers and a medley of characters, the plot takes on a steady momentum full of twisty turns. Every character seemed to have a hidden truth, and the reader experiences this through Freya’s eyes which adds to the uncertainty.

With a crescendo ending, most of the plot points coalesce, but some crucial elements were missing that could have really fortified the plot. That being said, I enjoyed this book and would read other books by this author.

The New Home is a psychological thriller touching upon mental health and the boundaries of humanity and morality.

This wasn't my favorite crime thriller. I just found it to be a bit drawn out and tired. I had high hopes going into it and was just let down with where the story ultimately ended. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I have mixed feelings about this book , it was ok but nothing special. I didn’t predict the end but I was somewhat disappointed there wasn’t more to it than that . I was a little bored in the middle but persevered hoping for more at the end . I would try another book by this author in the future though . Just 3 stars for me I’m afraid

Discord Is Stirred…
A new home in peaceful and quiet suburbia, new neighbours and a new start. Exciting, right? Well perhaps not for Freya who soon begins to realise that all is not quite as it seems on the surface. When a series of bizarre events occurs discord is stirred. Would you ever really trust your neighbours? Entertaining suspense with twists and turns aplenty. A tense, often edge of seat read which may keep you guessing.

Wonderful.. simple as that. Except it was not easy it was complex. But such a good mystery, psihologycal thriller that keep you there and you want to know what happened.

Freya moves with her fiance to a new old house. Soon after she get to know the neighbours, the woman and the child dissapear. She has to know what happened to them and she does everything. She has an interesting past and an interesting journalist job that make evetything spicy.

At some point before the half of the book I wanted to scream at her and wake her up, I doubt about everybody in the book up but then I slowly understand what was all about and I was glad of the twist before the end and the conclusion was one of my kind. Such a gripping story, perfection.

Thanks to Netgalley.com and Bookouture for a great arc.